Tornado potato

Gorilla Cheese is like the pied piper of Hamilton. As the big black truck moves slowly up Ottawa Street, looking for its parking space at Sew Hungry, a line of 30 people shuffles along behind. It doesn't matter that the city's third-ever food truck rally won't officially kick off for another five minutes. The hum of generators combined with the smell of everything from Latin and Greek to Italian and good old grilled cheese has been luring a lunchtime crowd since 10 a.m.

“It really has been incredible how much it's grown over the year,” says Elisha Proietti, Events Coordinator & Market Manager for the Ottawa Street BIA and Farmers Market. “It's the first anniversary of the first one we did last September and we had nine trucks. Now, at 21 trucks, we're like, how did that happen?”

Part of the reason the festival's roster has grown is because of the way Hamilton has embraced the trend toward food trucks in the past year.

Tony Vastis, who owns Toronto's Blue Donkey Streatery, is selling at Sew Hungry for the second time. He says doing business in Toronto, where he has to park on private property rather than the street, can be frustrating.

“There's a lot of chatter about coming to do business here because the laws allow us to be here,” he says. “The pressure that Hamilton has put on the City of Toronto just because they've allowed street service is immense.”

Vastis is also impressed by Sew Hungry's promotion, organization and community involvement — particularly on behalf of the restaurants.

“The biggest thing on (Ottawa) Street is that the restaurateurs want to work with us. You don't get that anywhere else. They're usually the ones who are calling the bylaw officers saying come get these guys out of here,” he says. “Ottawa Street does it the best, hands down.”

Proietti is happy to hear it. If one of the goals of Sew Hungry is to show off what Ottawa Street has going on, it seems to be working.

Geoff and Bev Vincent moved from Mississauga to Hamilton 18 months ago when they became empty-nesters. They live at Aberdeen Avenue and Dundurn Street South, but they come to the Ottawa Street Farmers' Market almost every weekend. They're drawn by the market's authenticity and by the relationships they've built with local farmers.

Today, they're making a meal (or a few) of it. They tried the pork tacos at Gourmet Gringos and the pulled pork sandwiches at Dirty South. They ate the manicotti at Rome'n Chariot and might go back for meatball sliders if they don't see something else that catches their eye first.

“I think the idea is, you know, it only happens twice a year so indulge a little bit, have a couple meals,” says Geoff. “None of them are so huge you can't have two. At least, I can.”

It's a good thing because there are plenty of new trucks to sample from this fall, including Hamilton's own Dirty South, Southern Smoke Truck, Fritterson's Mobile, and Gourmet Gringos from Toronto.

The Vincents have also noticed more non-truck involvement than there was at last May's Sew Hungry. A house near Poco Loco is having a yard sale. The First Church of the Nazarene set up dining tables and chairs in their parking lot. Employees from Letty's Hair Salon are patrolling the street, selling water and pop to raise money for the Kiwanis Boys and Girls Club. It's catching on and it's getting bigger. By the time things start shutting down at 3 p.m., the event has drawn 15,000 people — 3, 000 more than in May.

“It's the east end of the city so it doesn't get as much attention as the rest of the city,” says Proietti. “But over the last year and a half that's what we've been working to do and this is a perfect example of it. We're getting a lot more storefronts filled too which is awesome. Everyone wants to be a part of it.”